Biblical Essays
THE LIVING GOD AND A LIVING FAITH
There is one substantial fact standing out on every page of the Volume of God, and illustrated in every stage of the history of God’s people – at all times a fact of immense weight and moral power, but especially in seasons of darkness, difficulty, and discouragement, occasioned by the low condition of things among those who profess to be on the Lord’s side. The fact is this: faith can always count on God, and God will always answer faith.
Such is our fact, such our thesis; and if we turn to 2 Chronicles 20, we find a beautiful and striking illustration.
This chapter shows us the good king Jehoshaphat under heavy pressure – it records a dark moment in his history. “It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other besides the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then [for people are always quick to run with evil tidings] there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea, on this side Syria” (emphasis added).
Here was a difficulty of no ordinary nature. This invading host was made up of the descendants of Lot and Esau; and this fact might give rise to a thousand conflicting thoughts and distracting questions in the mind of Jehoshaphat. They were not Egyptians or Assyrians, concerning whom there could be no question whatsoever; but both Esau and Lot stood in certain relations to Israel, and a question might be suggested regarding how far such relations were to be recognized.
Not this only. The practical state of the entire nation of Israel – the actual condition of God’s people, was such as to give rise to serious misgivings. Israel no longer presented an unbroken front to the invading foe. Their visible unity was gone. A grievous breach had been made in their battlements. The ten tribes and the two were rent asunder, one from the other. The condition of the former was terrible, and that of the latter, shaky enough.
Thus the circumstances of King Jehoshaphat were dark and discouraging in the extreme; and, even as regards himself and his course, he was just emerging from the consequences of a humiliating fall, so that his reminiscences would be as cheerless as his surroundings.
But here our grand substantial fact presents itself to the vision of faith, and flings a mantle of light over the whole scene. No doubt, things looked gloomy; but God was to be counted on by faith, and faith could count on Him. God is a never failing resource – He is at all times and under all circumstances a great reality. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the stream whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Ps. 46:1-7).
Here was Jehoshaphat’s resource in the day of his trouble; and to it he at once took himself, in that earnest faith which never fails to draw down power and blessing from the living and true God, to meet every exigency of the way. “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and claimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the Kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thy hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee? Art not Thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever?”
These are the breathings of faith – faith that enables the soul to take the highest possible ground. It mattered not what unsettled questions there might be between Esau and Jacob; there were none between Abraham and the Almighty God. Now, God had given the land to Abraham, His friend. For how long? Forever. This was enough. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” God will never cancel His call, or take back a gift. This is a fixed foundation principle; and on this, faith always takes its stand with firm decision.
The enemy might throw in a thousand suggestions; and the heart might throw up a thousand reasonings. On the part of Jehoshaphat, it might seem like presumption and empty conceit to plant his foot on such lofty ground. It was all well enough in the days of David, Solomon, or Joshua, when the unity of the nation was unbroken, and the banner of Jehovah floated in triumph over the twelve tribes of Israel. But things were sadly changed; and it ill became one in Jehoshaphat’s circumstances to use such lofty language or assume to occupy such a high position.
What is faith’s reply to all this? A very simple but powerful one – God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Had He not made Abraham a present of the land of Canaan? Had He not bestowed it on his seed forever? Had He not ratified the gift by His Word and His oath – these two immutable things in which it was impossible for Him to lie? Unquestionably.
But what about the law? Did not that make some difference? None whatsoever as regards God’s gift and promise. Four centuries previous to the giving of the law, the great transaction was settled and established between the Almighty God and Abraham His friend – settled and established forever. Hence nothing can possibly touch this. There were no legal conditions proposed to Abraham. All was pure and absolute grace. God gave the land to Abraham by promise, and not by law.
It was on this original ground that Jehoshaphat took his stand; and he was right. It was the only thing for him to do. He had not one hair’s breadth of solid standing ground, short of these golden words, “Thou gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend forever.” It was either this or nothing. A living faith always lays hold on the living God. It cannot stop short of Him. It looks not at men or their circumstances. It takes no account of the changes and chances of this mortal life. It lives and moves and has its being in the presence of the living God; it rejoices in the cloudless sunlight of His blessed countenance. It carries on all its artless reasoning in the sanctuary, and draws all its happy conclusions from the facts discovered there. It does not lower the standard according to the condition of things around, but boldly and decidedly takes up its position on the highest ground.
These actions of faith are always most grateful to the heart of God. The living God delights in a living faith. We may be sure that the bolder the grasp of faith, the more welcome it is to God. We need never suppose that the blessed One is either gratified or glorified by the workings of a legal mind. No; He delights to be trusted without a shadow of reserve or misgiving. He delights to be fully counted on and largely used; and the deeper the need; the darker the surrounding gloom, the more is He glorified by the faith that draws on Him.
Hence, we may assert with perfect confidence that the attitude and utterances of Jehoshaphat in the scene before us were in full accordance with the mind of God. There is something beautiful to see him, as it were, opening the original lease, and laying his finger on that clause in virtue of which Israel held as tenants forever under God. Nothing could cancel that clause or break that lease. No flaw there. All was ordered and sure. “Thou gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever.”
This was solid ground – the ground of God – the ground of faith, which no power of the enemy can ever shake. True, the enemy might remind Jehoshaphat of sin and folly, failure and unfaithfulness. He might suggest to him that the very fact of the threatened invasion proved that Israel had fallen, for had they not done so, there would be neither enemy nor evil.
But for this, too, grace had provided an answer – an answer faith knew how to appropriate. Jehoshaphat reminds Jehovah of the house Solomon had built to His name. “They have built Thee a sanctuary therein for Thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as a sword, judgement, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in Thy presence (for Thy name is in this house), and cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou will hear and help. and now, behold, the children of Ammon, and Moab, and mount Seir, whom Thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon Thee” (vv. 8-12).
Here, truly, is a living faith dealing with the living God. It is no mere empty profession – no lifeless creed – no cold uninfluential theory. It is not a man “saying he has faith.” Such things will never stand in the day of battle. They may do well enough when all is calm, smooth, and bright; but when difficulties have to be grappled with – when the enemy has to be met face to face, all merely nominal faith, all mere lip profession, will prove like autumn leaves before the blast. Nothing will stand the test of actual conflict but a living personal faith in a living personal Savior God. This is what is needed. It is this which alone can sustain the heart; come what may. Faith brings God into the scene, and all is strength, victory, and peace.
Thus it was with the king of Judah, in the days of 2 Chronicles 20. “We have no might; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee.” This is the way to occupy God’s ground, even with the eyes fixed on God Himself. This is the true secret of stability and peace. The devil will leave no stone unturned to drive us off the true ground which, as Christians, we ought to occupy in these last days; and, in ourselves, we have no might whatsoever against him. Our only resource is in the living God. If our eyes are on Him, nothing can harm us. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”
Are we on God’s ground? Can we give a “Thus saith the Lord” for the position we occupy at this moment? Are we consciously standing on the solid ground of Holy Scripture? Is there anything questionable in our surroundings and associations? May we all weigh these questions solemnly as in the divine presence. Be assured they are important, very important for the moment. We are passing through critical moments in this age. Men are taking sides; principles are working and coming to a head. Never was it more needful to be thoroughly and unmistakably on the Lord’s side.
Jehoshaphat never could have met the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, had he not been persuaded that his feet were on the very ground that God had given to Abraham. If the enemy could have shaken his confidence as to this, he would have had an easy victory. But Jehoshaphat knew where he was; he knew his ground. He understood his bearings; and therefore he could fix his eyes with confidence on the living God. He had no misgivings regarding his position. He did not say, as many do now-a-days, “I am not quite sure. I hope I am; but sometimes clouds come over my soul, and make me hesitate as to whether I am really on divine ground.”
No, the king of Judah would not have understood such language. All was clear to him. His eye rested on the original grant. He felt sure he was on the true ground of the Israel of God; and even though all Israel were not there with him, yet God was with him, and that was enough. His was a living faith in the living God – the only thing that will stand in the day of trial.
On that memorable occasion, there is something in the attitude and utterance of the king of Judah well worthy our profound attention. His feet were firmly fixed on God’s ground, and his eyes as firmly fixed on God Himself; and in addition to this, there was the deep sense of his own thorough nothingness. He had not as much as a shadow of doubt regarding the fact of his being in possession of the inheritance God had given him. He knew that he was in his right place. He did not hope it; still less did he doubt it; no, he knew it. He could say, “I believe and am sure.”
This is all-important. If there is anything equivocal in our position, it is impossible to stand against the enemy. If there be any secret misgiving as to whether we are in our right place – if we cannot give a “Thus saith the Lord” for the position we occupy, the path we tread, the associations in which we stand, the work in which we are engaged, there will, most assuredly, be weakness in the hour of conflict. Satan is sure to avail himself of the smallest misgiving in the soul. All must be settled regarding our positive standing if we are going to make any headway against the enemy. There must be an unclouded confidence regarding our real position before God, else the foe will have an easy victory.
It is precisely here that there is so much weakness apparent among the children of God. Comparatively, few are clear, sound, and settled regarding their foundation – few are able, without any reserve, to take the blessed ground of being washed in the blood of Jesus, and sealed with the Holy Spirit. At times they hope it. When things go well with them; when they have had a good time in the closet; when they have enjoyed nearness to God in prayer, or over the Word; while they are sitting under a clear, fervent, forcible ministry – at such moments, perhaps, they can venture to speak hopefully about themselves.
But soon dark clouds gather; they feel the workings of indwelling sin; they are afflicted with wandering thoughts; or it may be, they have been betrayed into some levity of spirit, or irritability of temper; then they begin to reason about themselves and to question whether they are, in reality, the children of God. And from reasoning and questionings, they speedily slip into unbelief, and then plunge into the thick gloom of a despondency bordering on despair.
All this is sad. It is both dishonoring to God and destructive to the soul’s peace; and as to progress in such a condition is out of the question. How can anyone run a race, if he has not cleared the starting post? How can he erect a building, if he has not laid the foundation? And, on the same principle, how can a soul grow in the divine life, if he is always liable to doubt whether he has that life or not?
But some may be disposed to ask, “How can I be sure that I am on God’s ground? – that I am washed in the blood of Jesus and sealed with the Holy Spirit?” We reply, “How do we know that we are lost sinners?” Is it because we feel it? Is mere feeling the ground of our faith? If so, it is not a divine faith at all. True faith rests only on the testimony of Holy Scripture.
No doubt, it is by the gracious energy of the Holy Spirit that anyone can exercise this living faith; but we are speaking now of the true ground of faith – the authority – the basis on which it rests, and that is simply the Holy Scriptures which, as the inspired apostle tells us, are able to make us wise unto salvation, and which even a child could know – without the religions of men, the clergy, the fathers, the PhDs, the councils, the colleges, or any other human intervention whatsoever.
“Abraham believed God.” Here was divine faith. It was not a question of feeling. Indeed, if Abraham had been influenced by his feelings, he would have been a doubter instead of a believer. For what had he to build on in himself? “His own body now dead.” A poor ground surely on which to build his faith in the promise of an innumerable seed. But, we are told, “He considered not his own body now dead” (Rom. 4). What, then, did he consider? He considered the Word of the living God, and on that he rested. Now this is faith. And note what the apostle says: “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief [for unbelief is always a staggerer], but was strong in faith, giving glory to God: and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness” (emphasis added).
One may say, “But what has all this to say to my case? I am not an Abraham – I cannot expect a special revelation from God. How am I to know that God has spoken to me? How can I possess this precious faith?” Note the apostle’s further statement. “Now it was not written for his [Abraham's] sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if [if what? – if we feel, realize, or experience aught in ourselves? No, but] if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (emphasis added).
All this is full of solid comfort and rich consolation. It assures the anxious inquirer that he has the same ground and authority to rest on that Abraham had, with an immensely higher measure of light thrown on that ground, because Abraham was called to believe in a promise, whereas we are privileged to believe in an accomplished fact. He was called to look forward to something that was to be done; we look back at something that is done – an accomplished redemption, attested by the fact of a risen and glorified Savior, at the right hand of the Majesty in the Heavens.
But regarding the ground or authority on which we are called to rest our souls, it is the same in our case as in Abraham's and all true believers’ in all ages – it is the Word of God – the Holy Scriptures. There is no other foundation of faith but this; and the faith that rests on any other is not true faith at all. A faith resting on human tradition; on the authority of man’s religions; on the authority of so-called general councils; on the clergy; or on learned men, is not divine faith, but mere superstition; it is a faith that “stands in the wisdom of men,” and “not in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5).
It is impossible for any human pen or mortal tongue to overstate the value or importance of this grand principle of a living faith. Its value at the present moment is positively unspeakable. We believe it to be the divine antidote against most, if not all, the leading errors, evils, and hostile influences of the day in which our lot is cast. There is a tremendous shaking going on around us. Minds are agitated. Disturbing forces are abroad. There is a loosening of the foundations. Old institutions, to which the human mind clings, as the ivy to the oak, are tottering on every side; and many are actually fallen: and thousands of souls that have been finding shelter in them are dislodged and scared, and know not where to turn. Some are saying, “The bricks are thrown down, but we will build with hewn stone.” Many are at their wit’s end, and most are ill at ease.
And this is not all; there is a numerous class of those who are not so much concerned about the condition and destiny of religious institutions and ecclesiastical systems, as about the condition and destiny of their own souls – of those who are not so much agitated by questions about “broad church,” “high church,” “low church,” “state church,” or “free church,” as about this one great question, “What must I do to be saved?” What have we to say to these latter? What is the real need of their souls? Simply this, “A living faith in the living God.” This is what is needed for all who are disturbed by what they see without, or feel within. Our unfailing resource is in the living God and in His Son Jesus Christ, as revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Holy Scriptures.
Here is the true resting-place of faith – a place we should earnestly, urgently and solemnly seek to be. In other words, we entreat all to stay on the Word of God – the Holy Scriptures. Here we have authority for all that we need to know, to believe, or to do.
Is it a question of anxiety about our eternal salvation? Hear the following words, “Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (Is. 28:16). These precious words, so full of tranquillizing power, are quoted by the inspired apostle in the New Testament Scriptures: “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded” (1 Pet. 2:6).
What solid comfort – here is deep and settled repose for the anxious soul. God has laid the foundation, and that foundation is nothing less than His own eternal and co-equal Son, the Son who had dwelt from all eternity in His bosom. In every respect, this foundation is adequate to sustain the whole weight of the counsels and purposes of the eternal Three in One – to meet all the claims of the nature, character, and throne of God.
Being all this, it must be fully adequate to meet all the need of the anxious soul, no matter what that need may be. If Christ is enough for God He must of necessity be enough for man – for any man; and that He is enough is proved by the passage just quoted. He is God’s own foundation, laid by His own hand, the foundation and center of that glorious system of royal and victorious grace set forth in the word “Zion” (See Heb. 12:22-24). He is God’s own precious, tried, chief corner stone – that blessed One who went down into death’s dark waters; bore the heavy judgment and wrath Of God against sin; robbed death of its sting, and the grave of its victory; destroyed him that had the power of death; wrested from the enemy’s grasp that terrible weapon with which sin had armed him, and made it the instrument of his eternal defeat and confusion. Having done all this, He was received into glory, and seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens.
Such is God’s foundation, to which He graciously calls the attention of everyone who really feels the need of something divinely solid on which to build, in view of the hollow and shadowy scenes of this world, and in prospect of the stern realities of eternity. We are now invited to build on this foundation. Be assured it is for us as positively and distinctly as though we heard a voice from Heaven speaking to our own self. The Word of the living God is addressed “to every creature under heaven” – “whosoever will” is invited to come.
The inspired Volume has been placed in our hands and laid open before our eyes; and for what? Is it to mock or to tantalize us by presenting what was never intended for us? No; such is not God’s way. Does He send His sunlight and showers to mock and tantalize, or to gladden and refresh? Do we ever think of calling in question our own personal welcome to study the book of Creation? Never; and yet there might be some show of foundation of such a question, because, since that wondrous Volume was thrown open, sin has entered and thrown its dark blots over the pages thereof.
But, spite of sin and all its forms and consequences, spite of Satan’s power and malice, God has spoken. He has caused His voice to be heard in this dark and sinful world. And what has He said? “Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation.” This is something entirely new. It is as though our blessed, loving, and ever gracious God had said to us, “Here, I have begun on the new. I have laid a foundation on the ground of redemption which nothing can ever touch, neither sin, or Satan, or anything else. I lay the foundation, and pledge My word that whosoever believes; whosoever commits himself in childlike unquestioning confidence, to My foundation; whosoever rests in My Christ; whosoever is satisfied with My precious, tried, chief corner stone, shall never be confounded; never be put to shame; never be disappointed; shall never perish, world without end.”
We solemnly avow we cannot see the shadow of a reason why anyone would not accept such a glorious Word. If there were any question raised, any condition proposed, or any barrier erected, then perhaps there would be reason to hesitate. If there were as much as a single preliminary to be settled – if it were made a question of feeling or experience, or of anything else that we could do, feel, or be, then, we might justly pause. But there is absolutely nothing of the sort. There is the Christ of God and the Word of God, and – what then? “He that believeth shall not be confounded.”
In short, it is simply “A living faith in the living God.” It is taking God at His Word. It is believing what He says because He says it. It is committing our soul to the Word of Him who cannot lie. It is doing what Abraham did when he believed God and was counted righteous. It is doing what Jehoshaphat did when he planted his foot firmly on those immortal words, “Thou gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend, forever.” It is doing what the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and saints in all ages have done, when they rested their souls for time and eternity on that Word which “is settled forever in heaven,” and thus lived in peace and died in hope of a glorious resurrection. It is resting calmly and sweetly on the immovable rock of Holy Scripture, and thus proving the divine and sustaining virtue of that which has never failed any who trusted it, and never will, and never can.
Oh the unspeakable blessedness of having such a foundation in a world like this where death, decay, and change are stamped on all; where friendship’s fondest links are snapped in the twinkling of an eye by death’s rude hand; where all that seems stable to human nature’s view, is liable to be swept away in a moment by the rushing tide of popular revolution; where there is absolutely nothing on which the heart can lean, and say, “I have now found permanent repose.” What a mercy in such a scene to have “A living faith in the living God.”
“They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.” Such is the veritable record of the living God – a record made good in the experience of all those who have been enabled, through grace, to exercise a living faith. But then we must remember how much is involved in those three words, “wait for Me.” The waiting must be a real thing. It will not do to say we are waiting on God, when, in reality, our eye is focused on some human prop or creature confidence. We must be absolutely “shut up” to God. In order to fully prove what the life of faith is and what God’s resources are, we must be brought to the end of self and to the bottom of circumstances. God and the creature can never occupy the same platform. It must be God alone. “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation” (Ps. 62:5-6).
Thus it was with Jehoshaphat, in that scene recorded in 2 Chronicles 20. He was cast on God. It was either God or nothing. “We have no might.” But what then? “Our eyes are upon Thee.” This was enough. It was well for Jehoshaphat not to have as much as a single atom of might – a single ray of knowledge. He was in the best possible attitude and condition to prove what God was. It would have been an incalculable loss to him to have been possessed of the smallest particle of creature strength or creature wisdom, because it could only have proved a hindrance in exclusively leaning on the arm and counsel of the Almighty God. If the eye of faith rests on the living God – if He fills the entire range of the soul’s vision, then what do we need with might or knowledge of our own? Who would think of resting in that which is human when he can have that which is divine? Who would lean on an arm of flesh, when he can lean on the arm of the living God?
Are any of us at this moment in any pressure, in any trial, need, or difficulty? If so, let us look simply and solely to the living God. Turn away our eyes completely from the creature: “Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils.” Let our faith take hold on the strength of God Himself. Put our whole case into His omnipotent hand – cast our burden, whatever it is, on Him. Let there be no reserve. He is as willing as He is able, and as able as He is willing, to bear all. Only trust Him fully. He loves to be trusted – loves to be used. It is His joy to yield a ready and full response to the appeal of faith. It is worth having a burden, to know the blessedness of rolling it over on Him. So the king of Judah found it in the day of his trial, and so shall we find it now. God never fails a trusting heart. “They shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.” What precious words. Let us note how they are illustrated in the narrative before us.
No sooner had Jehoshaphat cast himself completely on the Lord, than the divine response fell with clearness and power on his ear. “Harken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat; thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid or dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s...ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them; for the Lord will be with you.”
What an answer. “The battle is not yours, but God’s” – think of God having a battle with people. There could be little question regarding the issue of such a battle. Jehoshaphat had put the whole matter into God’s hands, and God took it up and made it entirely His own. It is always thus. Faith puts the difficulty, the trial, and the burden into God’s hands, and leaves Him to act. This is enough. God never refuses to respond to the appeal of faith; no, it is His delight to answer it. Jehoshaphat had made it a question between God and the enemy. He had said, “They have come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit.”
Nothing could be simpler. God had given Israel the land, and He could keep them in it, spite of ten thousand foes. Thus faith would reason. The same Hand that had placed them in the land could keep them there. It was simply a question of divine power. “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee.”
It is a wonderful point in the history of any soul, to be brought to say, “I have no might.” It is the sure precursor of divine deliverance. The moment a man is brought to the discovery of his utter powerlessness, the Divine Word is, “Stand still, and see the salvation of God.” One does not want “might” to “stand still.” It needs no effort to “see the salvation of God.” This holds good in reference to the sinner in coming to Christ, at the first; and it holds equally good in reference to the Christian in his whole life from first to last. The great difficulty is to get to the end of our own strength. Once there, the whole thing is settled.
There may be a vast amount of struggle and exercise before we are brought to say “without strength.” But, the moment we take that ground, the word is, “Stand still, and see the salvation of God.” In every shape and form human effort can but raise a barrier between our souls and God’s salvation. If God has undertaken for us, we may well be still. And has He not? Yes, blessed be His holy name, He has charged Himself with all that concerns us, for time and eternity; and hence we have only to let Him act for us, in all things. It is our happy privilege to let Him go before us, while we follow on “in wonder, love, and praise.”
Thus it was in that interesting and instructive scene on which we have been dwelling. “Jehoshaphat bowed his head, with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.”
Here we have the attitude and proper occupation of the true believer. Jehoshaphat withdrew his eyes from “that great company that had come against him,” and fixed them on the living God. Jehovah had come right in and placed Himself between His people and the enemy, just as He had done in the day of the exodus, at the Red Sea, so that instead of looking at the difficulties, they might look at Him.
This is always the secret of victory under all circumstances. This fills the heart with praise and thanksgiving, and bows the head in wondering worship. On the occasion before us, there is something beautiful in the entire bearing of Jehoshaphat and the congregation. They were evidently impressed with the thought that they had nothing to do but praise God. And they were right. Had He not said to them, “Ye shall not need to fight”? What then had they to do? What remained for them? Nothing but praise. Jehovah was going out before them to fight; and they had but to follow after Him in adoring worship. “And they rose early in the morning, and went forth in the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper” (2 Chron. 20:20).
It is of the very last importance that God’s Word should always have its own supreme place in the heart of the Christian. God has spoken. He has given us His Word; and it is for us to lean unshaken thereon. We need nothing more. The Divine Word is amply sufficient to give confidence, peace, and stability to the soul. We do not need evidences from man to prove the truth of God’s Word. That Word carries its own powerful evidences. To suppose that we require human testimony to prove that God’s Word is true, is to imply that man’s word is more valid, more trustworthy, and more authoritative than the Word of God. If we need a human voice to interpret, ratify, make God’s revelation available, then we are virtually deprived of that revelation altogether.
We call special attention to this point. It concerns the integrity of Holy Scripture. The grand question is this, “Is God’s Word sufficient or not? Do we really need man’s authority to make us sure that God has spoken?” Far be the thought. This would be placing man's word above God’s Word, and thus depriving us of the only solid ground on which our souls can lean.
This is precisely what the devil has been aiming at from the very beginning, and it is what he is aiming at now. He wants to remove from beneath our feet the solid rock of divine revelation, giving us instead the sandy foundation of human authority. Hence, we earnestly contend for the urgent need of keeping close to God’s Word, in simple unquestioning faith. It is really the true secret of stability and peace. If God’s Word is not enough for us, without man’s interference, we are left without any sure basis of our soul’s confidence – we are cast adrift on the wild watery waste of skepticism, plunged in doubt and dark uncertainty: we are most miserable.
But, it is not so. “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established: believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper.” Here is the resting-place of faith in all ages. God’s eternal Word, which is settled forever in Heaven, which He has magnified according to His name, and which stands forth in its own divine dignity and sufficiency before the eye of faith. We must utterly reject the idea that anything in the way of human authority, human evidences, or human feelings, is needful to make the testimony of God full weight in the balances of the soul.
Grant us that God has spoken, and we argue with bold decision that nothing more is needed as a foundation for genuine faith. In other words, if we need to be established and prosper, we have simply to “Believe in the Lord our God.” It was this that enabled Jehoshaphat to bow his head in holy worship. It was this that enabled him to praise God for victory before a single blow was struck. It was this that conducted him into “the valley of [blessing]” and surrounded him with spoil more than he could carry away.
And now we have the soul-stirring record: “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that Should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord: for His mercy forever.”
What a strange advance guard for an army – a company of singers. Such is faith’s way of ordering the battle. “And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten.” Think of the Lord setting ambushments! Think of His engaging in the business of military tactics. How wonderful. God will do anything that His people need, if only His people will confide in Him and leave themselves and their affairs absolutely in His hand.
“And when Judah came toward the watch-tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.” Such was the end of “that great company” – that formidable host – that terrible foe. All vanished away before the presence of the God of Israel. Yes, and had they been a million times more numerous, and more formidable, the issue would have been the same, for circumstances are nothing to the living God, and nothing to a living faith. When God fills the vision of the soul difficulties fade away, and songs of praise break forth from joyful lips. “And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them [for that was all they had to do] they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. And on the fourth day, they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the Lord” (emphasis added).
Such must always be the result of a living faith in the living God. Thousands of years have rolled away since the occurrence of the event on which we have been dwelling; but the record is as fresh as ever. No change has come over the living God, or over the living faith that always takes hold of His strength, and counts on His faithfulness. It is as true today as it was in the day of Jehoshaphat – those who believe in the Lord our God shall be established, and shall prosper. They shall be endowed with strength, crowned with victory, clothed with spoils, and filled with songs of praise. May we, then, through the gracious energy of the Holy Spirit always be enabled to exercise “A Living Faith in the Living God.”
